Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2005 02:23:54 -0500
To: mpc@lmg.usap.gov
From: Hugh Ducklow
Subject: SITREP 1
Cc: vernetma@lmg.usap.gov, rossro@lmg.usap.gov, pickerbr@lmg.usap.gov,
gary lecleir , ducklohu@lmg.usap.gov
LM GOULD Cruise 05-01
Palmer LTER January Cruise 2005
Situation Report
LM Gould departed Punta Arenas Chile on 29 December, 2004 bound for
Palmer Station Antarctica to commence the 14th consecutive January cruise
of the Palmer, Antarctica Long-Term Ecological Research project (PAL).
The overall goal of PAL is the understand the linkages between climate
and the annual variations and long-term trends in the advance and retreat
of sea ice as they affect the dynamics of the Antarctic coastal marine
ecosystem. We departed Palmer on 04 January and are currently conducting
operations at Station 500.060 near Renaud Island. This cruise should be
interesting. The sea ice has persisted longer and more extensively this
spring than in the last 10-15 years. Recent ice imagery indicates that
about 25% of our sampling grid is still covered by sea ice. We attempted
to reach the penguin colony near the southern tip of Renaud to place
satellite tags on penguins, but were forced to abort the attempt due to
heavy sea ice. Very unusual for January.
Many thanks to RPSC, ECO and AGUNSA staff in Punta Arenas, at Palmer
Station and aboard LMG for staging our expedition. Individual reports follow:
B-013-L PAL LTER Seabird Ecology
Principal Investigator: Bill Fraser
Field Team: Peter Horne and Brett Pickering
Our team's objectives for the cruise are to identify Adelie penguin
foraging "hot spots" along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, conduct sea
bird census on the LTER grid, and to determine the diets of penguins at
Renaud and Avian Islands. We will be deploying satellite transmitters to
track the Adelies between their colonies and feeding areas. A five-day
field camp will be setup on Avian Island.
We would like to thank Palmer Station science support and IT and Comms
for assistance with materials for cruise.
B-016-L PAL LTER Phytoplankton Ecology
Principal Investigator: Maria Vernet
Field Team: Karie Sines, Eli Loomis, Austen Thomas, Jessica Spence
The goals of our project are to characterize the ecology and physiology
of phytoplankton including daily primary production rates and
photosynthetic pigments in relation to environmental parameters:
nutrients, total particulate carbon and nitrogen, upwelling and
downwelling irradiance in the ultraviolet and visible
range. Microzooplankton grazing experiments will be performed in a range
of phytoplankton biomass to estimate loss by grazing at various
conditions. During this week we transit from Punta Arenas to Palmer
Station, have moved operations from the station to the ship to start the
science.
We thank personnel on the ARSV LMG Gould, Palmer Station and Punta Arenas
for logistical support of this project.
B-045-L PAL LTER Zooplankton and Micronekton
Principal Investigators: Robin Ross (on LMG) and Langdon Quetin (at
Palmer Station)
Field Team: Lyndon Valicenti, Gregory Quetin, Kelly Moore, Stephen
Holloway, Katie Davis, Diane Chakos
Our focus is on the community composition and abundance of the
zooplankton and micronekton in the LTER study region, and the role of
specific members in the food dynamics of the region. We use both net tows
and bioacoustic transects to quantify the zooplankton community, and to
characterize the aggregations of species such as Antarctic krill and the
salp, Salpa thompsoni. In situ growth and egg production experiments for
Antarctic krill conducted on board yield data on the productivity of this
key species on multiple time and space scales. At selected stations we
will also measure a grazing activity index for the two major
macrozooplanktonic grazers, Antarctic krill and salps.
We send a special thank you to both our team members at Palmer Station
(Langdon Quetin and Josh Sprague) who helped set up for the cruise during
the busy port call at Palmer Station, and to RPSC staff on the LM Gould
who were of great help as we tested equipment during the first station.
B-045-L PAL LTER Microbial Ecology and Biogeochemistry
Principal Investigator: Hugh Ducklow
Field Team: Nicole Middaugh, Elizabeth Waterson, Kristen France, Robert
Daniels, William Ducklow
The goals of our project are to characterize several key biogeochemical
properties (oxygen, dissolved inorganic and organic carbon, lipid
biomarkers) microbial standing stocks and production rates (thymidine and
leucine incorporation), and particle sedimentation (using a moored
sediment trap) in the full depth of the water column across the PAL
regional sampling grid. Separate experiments are planned at three 24-hr
process stations located near the major penguin breeding sites at Anvers,
Renaud and Adelaide Islands.
Special thanks to B045-P members Michele Cochran and Taylor Heyl as well
as Palmer Station RPSC staff for aiding in staging and set up for our project.
B-114 PAL LTER Microbial Ecology and Molecular Microbial Ecology
Principal Investigator: James T. Hollibaugh
Field Team: Matthew Erickson and Gary LeCleir
The goals of our project are to measure the rates of microbial oxidation
of ammonium and other nitrogen species. Experiments are conducted using
chemical inhibitors that "block" ammonium oxidation at different points
in the reaction, enabling us to measure the accumulation of certain
species in the incubations. The accumulation of these species will enable
us to calculate rates of activity of specific steps in the oxidation of
ammonium We will also be extracting DNA from large quantities of water to
construct large insert DNA libraries to probe for functional genes
involved in the different steps of this pathway. Separate experiments are
planned at three 24 hour process stations to look at what size fraction
of the microbial assemblage is responsible for the oxidation of ammonium.
We will also be investigating effects of UV on the rates of this process
during the cruise.
Hugh Ducklow
Aboard the research vessel LM GOULD
Palmer LTER Cruise Jan05
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Hugh Ducklow Phone: 804-684-7180
School of Marine Science Fax: 804-684-7293
The College of William and Mary Email: duck@vims.edu
Box 1346 Courier: Rte. 1208, Greate Road,
Gloucester point, VA 23062-1346 http://www.vims.edu/bio/microbial/
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Andrew Nunn
Raytheon Polar Services Company
Marine Projects Coordinator
R/V LAURENCE M. GOULD
email to: mpc@lmg.usap.gov
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